Dream season

ATLANTIC – A year of dedication and hard work earned Nodaway Valley girls basketball a trip to the Wells Fargo Arena after a dominant 55-33 win over AHSTW (17-7) in the Class 2A Region 5 championship Wednesday night.

Entering the night, the 23-0 Wolverines stepped off the bus focused, looking for revenge after a semifinal loss to the Lady Vikes a year ago, knowing what was on the line.

“It was just one of those things where we just had to come out and do it, keep the hammer down, and we did,” Nodaway Valley head coach Brian Eisbach said.

Nodaway Valley didn’t waste any time getting ahead, with a crowd filling the gym and fueling the emotion of the moment.

Before the tip, Maddax DeVault hit one of two free throws on a pre-game technical, giving the Wolverines a 1-0 lead with all 32 minutes remaining. After an AHSTW turnover, Lindsey Davis hit a floater in the lane, Corinne Bond scored off an assist from Lexi Shike and DeVault scored off a turnover to give Nodaway Valley a 7-0 lead less than two minutes into the game.

“We love our community. Our community has been so supportive all year, and they’ve just been there for every game for us,” Shike said on what helped fuel the start. “I think that just gives us motivation to go out there and play for them.”

The run didn’t end, climbing to 9-0 before Kailey Jones hit AHSTW’s first shot at 3:49 in the first quarter.

The run continued to 17-2 before the Lady Vikes called a timeout with 1:46 remaining in the first quarter.

Out of the timeout, Davis knocked down a 3-pointer, the Wolverines’ second of the quarter, and scored a layup to give Nodaway Valley a 22-4 after the first eight minutes.

She finished with 16 points, behind DeVault’s game-high 21 points.

The Wolverine defense continued to keep up pressure on defense as AHSTW moved the ball up the floor but backed off in the half court, tempting the Lady Vikes to shoot beyond the 3-point line.

Entering Wednesday, AHSTW was shooting 28.2% from beyond the arc on 404 attempts this season. The Lady Vikes hit five Wednesday, four coming in the second half.

Eisbach said the game plan was to keep two girls in the lane at all times and limit Jones’ ability to get in the lane. Jones averages 18.8 points per game. She finished with seven points Wednesday.

With AHSTW struggling to hit shots from mid-range or deep, Nodaway Valley locked down the lane with Corinne Bond blocking shots and grabbing rebounds throughout all four quarters.

“We knew that Kailey Jones was a good rebounder, so coach was like, ‘we’ve just got to box her out, don’t let her get that ball to put it back up,’ so I was like, ‘OK, you got it,’” Bond said. “So, Lexi and I worked on her pretty much all night and didn’t let her get the ball.”

The quick tempo Nodaway Valley started out with started to affect AHSTW late in the first half, but the first Lady Vikes score at 4:23 in the second quarterstarted a 7-5 run, cutting Nodaway Valley’s lead to 20 points at halftime, 31-11.

Eisbach said he told his team at halftime AHSTW is a good team and will make a run, so the group needed to weather the storm and keep things rolling.

AHSTW did just that, but Nodaway Valley outscored the Lady Vikes 24-21 in the second half to seal the game.

Holding a 51-30 lead with 1:38 and DeVault at the free-throw line, Eisbach took his three seniors – Macy Kuhns, Shike and Bond – out of the game as they walked off with a standing ovation. But the trio wanted to be on the floor as the team became the first to make the state tournament in program history.

“We were all like, ‘oh my gosh, we want to be in there when we get it,’” Shike said. “So, then (Eisbach) was like, ‘OK, I’ll sub you back in.’ So, he put us back in, and it was awesome. It was an awesome feeling.”

Four consecutive DeVault free throws ended the game, securing a banner season for the Wolverines.

“We feel like, as a school, we’re that close. We can do it, we’ve just got to do it,” Eisbach said. “We’re in Atlantic’s gym right now. I know they’re 3A, but they’ve got banners galore. This is our first, so appreciate it, appreciate what you’ve accomplished. Don’t get so caught up in the X’s and O’s. Now, it’s just focus up and see what we can do next week.”

UP NEXT — Nodaway Valley claimed the four-seed with Wednesday’s win, earning it a matchup with five-seed North Linn Tuesday at 9 p.m. at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Nodaway Valley 55, AHSTW 33

AHSTW (33) — (FG FT PTS) Totals — 11 4-6 33. Clarie Denning 5 4-4 16, Kailey Jones 3 0-0 7, Graycen Partlow 1 0-2 3, Claire Harris 1 0-0 3, Delaney Goshorn 1 0-0 2, Ella Langer 1 0-0 2. 3-point goals — 5 (Denning 2, Jones 1, Goshorn 1, Langer 1). Team fouls — 16. Fouled out — None.

NODAWAY VALLEY (55) — (FG FT PTS) Totals — 20 9-15 55. Maddax DeVault 7 6-8 23, Lindsey Davis 6 2-5 16, Lexi Shike 3 1-1 7, Corinne Bond 2 0-1 4, Macy Kuhns 1 0-0 3, Terring Gettler 1 0-0 2. 3-point goals — 6 (DeVault 3, Davis 2, Kuhns 1). Team fouls — 9. Fouled out — None.